Safe and affordable workers' accommodation needs to be provided

According to Dubai Municipality, overcrowded illegal houses in the Naif area have increased by 25 per cent over the past year.

Omar Abdul Rahman, head of the building inspection department there, says there are now 203 houses violating rules that are supposed to ensure proper safety and health standards for all.

"I work throughout the day and at night I come home to this small, overcrowded room," one Pakistani worker, living in an illegal rooming house, says. "I feel I have been transformed into a machine that... is put into this box at night."

The issue for Dubai Municipality is striking a balance between dangerously overcrowded houses, and clamping down needlessly on those who share accommodation without endangering health or violating safety rules.

The solution needs to be a concerted effort to provide low-cost, affordable accommodation for all.

Tens of thousands of high-end apartments are coming on line. Safe, affordable accommodation should be provided for all ends of the social spectrum.